Elegent Scroll Frame Skeleton Clock

[crueby]

Nice!! 




Next project, engraving an astrolabe!?

[bent]

"There is no trace of that grayness in the wax at all."

That's awesome!  Glad it worked, Kim!   

edited to add:  the numbers look great so far, and the edges seem much clearer, less tear-out and burrs?  And, I think the silver aluminum on the Dye-Kem blue background really pops! (Though I suspect the blue finish would not hold up well to the burrs and swarf of machining...

[samc88]

Looking great Kim

[Kim]

Thanks Chris, Bent, and Samc88!

Next project, engraving an astrolabe!?

the numbers look great so far, and the edges seem much clearer, less tear-out and burrs?  And, I think the silver aluminum on the Dye-Kem blue background really pops! (Though I suspect the blue finish would not hold up well to the burrs and swarf of machining...

Agreed! Much nicer edges.  I think the 6061 machines much cleaner and the new AL specific end mill does a bang up job too!

I like the silver leters on the blue background too!  I spent some time considering how to make that the final color scheme - like anodize the aluminum or something. But I'd have to have done that before I did the engraving.  And it would be a real bear to get rid of all the machining marks in the grooves.  Using the dial wax covers up all that.  So I'll probably stick with black letters on a silver background.

Kim

[Kim]

I went out and finished up the engraving on the chapter ring today.


After completing the engraving, I switched to a 1/8” mill and cut the outer diameter of the chapter ring.


Then I cut the inner diameter.  I didn’t want it to come loose and get nicked when it came free from the inner circle, so I added some clamps before doing this operation.


Here’s the chapter ring after all the machining.  The Dykem got pretty scuffed up with all the machining and being bathed in WD40 for a week.


I used some acetone to clean off the Dykem, and it looks pretty good:


My only serious mishap was on the lower left corner of the 3.  I started turning the wrong crank handle for the serifs.  Very disappointing.  But it will add character to the dial face, right?  It's the flaw that proves it was hand engraved!  And it will keep me humble every time I look at it.    Since the 3 is on its side, the boo-boo is toward the upper left in the photo.    :'(  (That's supposed to be the crying emoji.  But for some reason, it doesn't ever seem to work for me.)


Regardless, I’m pretty pleased that I only made one stupid move like that.

Kim

[crueby]

Dang dude!  Thats a LOT of careful movements on all the dials, looks great!

How does he have you attach the dial to the clock, is it the type where it hangs in little brackets?

 

[Dave Otto]

Amazing work Kim, that turned out beautiful! Proves that where there's a will there is a way.
No one well ever notice that little mark on the finished clock unless you point it out. Things like that will just disappear into all the other beautiful work on the completed assembly.

Dave

[crueby]

If that beauty mark on the dial does bother you (I know how a tiny thing like that draws the creators eye), a little dab of paint the color of the dial face will make it disappear. Not that I've ever done that on a part (not today at least!     um, yet!  )

[cnr6400]

  The chapter ring looks excellent Kim! Great job. The tiny hoo ha on the III you mentioned is hardly visible, I would not have noticed it at all if you hadn't mentioned it. If anyone ever does, just tell them that is an orientation differentiator for your machine vision system....

[Krypto]

Absolutely awesome finish!

That you managed that entire job with only one minuscule hiccup is quite a feat.  So many chances for error and yet this weekend I was sweating-out just milling out a pocket in the back of a steam valve.  What you did is so much harder.  I think you have achieved mastery of the rotary table!

[Kim]

Thanks Chris, Dave, Jeff, and Krypto! 

The comments are much appreciated.

My current plan is to leave most of the dial face shiny aluminum, other than the black dial wax for the engraved numbers, of course.  If it's too offensive, I may see if it's possible to remove the black wax from that little bump. But I'm afraid anything I do there is likely to make it worse than just leaving alone. I'm likely to just ignore it and hope, like you're all saying, that nobody will notice. 

After all, as Jeff said, it's just an index to indicate orientation for the camera Arduino-based time reading system that's going to be my next project! 

Chris, the dial will be held on by a few little buttons, glued to the back of the dial face.  They fit into some stand offs that mount to the frame.  Those pieces will come soon.  Or maybe next, or maybe after the motion works.  I'm not sure yet...

Kim

[kvom]

Fantastic.  What tool and what depth of cut?

[Kim]

Fantastic.  What tool and what depth of cut?

I used this tool https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08PBJB3Q1?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title at 15 thou depth of cut (~1/64").  I ran my mill at 2250 RPM, which is its top speed. And I used WD40 from a hand pump spray bottle for lubricant/coolant while cutting.

The recommended speed was something like 36000 RPM.  My mill couldn't quite make that. But this worked well enough.  I did keep my feed rate low.  Probably like 2-4 ipm.  I went slower on full tool width cuts, but many of the cuts were half-width cuts, so I would go faster on those.  It was not fast, that's for sure.  But, I did the whole thing without breaking a single end mill!  And that was a LOT of linear inches of milling!

Kim

[bent]

"the lower left corner of the 3.  I started turning the wrong crank handle for the serifs.  Very disappointing.  But it will add character to the dial face, right?  It's the flaw that proves it was hand engraved!  "

Couldn't have spotted that if you told me to.  But I'd say it's the deliberate flaw you put in (subconsciously perhaps) to show that it is your handiwork, like a signature.  Rug weavers, tailors, artists (and arteests) of all types do this.

Regardless, the engraving looks awesome!   

You are going to flat sand and polish the face next, to get rid of any scrapes/dents?  I agree that a smooth aluminum finish (or a matte sandblasted finish) with the black wax will really look good along with the stainless and aluminum of the rest of the clock.  As far as a reversed color, you could paint it or anodize it, then is there a white version of the black wax?  It would need to be really opaque to mask the dark undercoat.

[Kim]

Thanks, Bent! 

Yes, sanding & polishing is what I'm doing now.  Not a fast process...
I'll post pics in a couple of days.  Tomorrow's not a shop day.
Kim